A Simple New York Retreat

New York painter Kathryn Windley didn't tiptoe toward the artistic life she desired. She rushed in heart first, ditching her big-city career in search of the country's simpler rewards — and found love along the way.

Bold Strokes

Bold Strokes

If you're a harried New Yorker who harbors fantasies about ditching the urban grind for some historic Hudson Valley idyll, realtor Gary DiMauro is the guy to call. Which is exactly what Kathryn Windley did back in 1998. Recently divorced and burned out by her career as an art director for Manhattan ad agencies, she yearned for a major life change. "The only thing I knew for certain," Windley says, "was that I wanted to live in the country."

Indeed, DiMauro led her right to the door of her dream house, an 1830 three-bedroom in the tiny hamlet of Milan, New York. Eventually, he'd also mend her heart. In 2005, the couple exchanged vows on the 20-acre property the groom helped the bride find. "Gary showed me this place and moved in a few years later. How's that for a full-service broker?" Windley jokes.

In this photo: Kathryn Windley, in the addition's ground floor studio, built this mobile painting cart using a nearby orchard's apple crates.

A Country Kitchen

A Country Kitchen

"Despite what my husband might say, it was the cast-iron farmhouse sink with the double drain boards" — not his charming sales techniques — "that really sold me on the property," says Windley, who designed a whole new kitchen, complete with a pine-topped island and open shelves, around the 1920s sink.

In this photo: Windley purchased the ax-handle stool — the room's most prized perch — years ago in Los Angeles, and ordered the cheery yellow roman shades from Smith Noble. The rustic bench cost $40 at a yard sale.

Bright Idea: Salvage a damaged rug by having it cut down and rebound into a chichi kitchen mat.